On October 13, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was awarded the annual International award the Golden Bolloc 2016 for his contribution to “the cause of peace and development of the relationship between nations and states”. Bookies’ favourites British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Korea’s Kim Jong-un…

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FIDE’s controversial decision to allow Iran to host the 2017 Women’s World Chess Championship has sparked a furore in the hushed, cerebral ranks of the game’s fans. In a bold move to silence critics who accuse it of endorsing a regime that enforces gender apartheid, FIDE…

First Lesson: One hand grasps the controls in the back of the dummy World Championship challenger Sergei Karjakin with the man who butters his bread For more information Valery Badmayev, Killing a Journalist, Kingpin, 22 November 2015 Bill Browder, Red Notice: How I Became Putin’s No….

‘Session of the FIDE presidential council. FIDE president proposes temporarily suspending himself from duty until the next council.’ See also Chess, Murder, Fraud Saddam’s Friend The Man Who Bought Chess

Remembering the Murder of Larisa Yudina under Ilyumzhinov Valery Badmayev editor-in-chief of newspaper Sovremennaya Kalmykia (7 October 2015) A couple of days ago I was sent a link to an interview with Ilyumzhinov on Ekho Moskvy, but I only found time to read it today….

Why Life Does Not Imitate Chess Part 3: The Visionary Followers of Garry Kasparov on Facebook will have noted that he has taken to styling himself as a ‘politician’. What’s his track record? All chess players will know about his campaign for FIDE president…

Why Life Does Not Imitate Chess Garry Kasparov is an archetypal winner: one that every ambitious person should learn from. So says Alastair Campbell. And he should know: he’s written a book on this subject!i ‘Running through everything Kasparov says is the idea that winners…

Whenever the popular press presumes to write with authority about chess, the self-appointed custodians of the game (that’s us) get sniffy, usually with good reason. When chess hits the headlines it tends to trigger a reflex in newspapers. They (tabloids especially) reach for their trusty…

Lev Khariton The attractive countryside of Meudon is a 15-minute train ride from Paris. Here I came to interview Boris Spassky just three days before his 60th birthday. He reminiscences about his life, his chess career, his rivals and friends. Dear Grandmaster, I should…

Andy Lewis A common Arimaa starting position Anyone for a variation on chess? Is chess played out? This concern has been voiced periodically over the history of the game, and the challenges has never been more profound: over-refinement of opening-theory; perfection of endgame technique;…

Sarah Hurst was a regular contributor to CHESS magazine in the 1990s and also edited the British Chess Federation’s newsletter, ChessMoves. Her fine book Curse of Kirsan: Adventures in the Chess Underworld is now available on Kindle at a bargain price. Since 2002 she has been translating…

Why Life Does Not Imitate Chess Part 3: The Visionary Followers of Garry Kasparov on Facebook will have noted that he has taken to styling himself as a ‘politician’. What’s his track record? All chess players will know about his campaign for FIDE president…

This Armageddon-style knockout tournament will take place amid the splendour of the Vladimir Putin Memorial Tearoom, St Petersburg. Play will begin on Christmas Day and continue until one player is left standing. He will be declared the winner and carry off the Prince Salman Bone-saw…

Chess and Early Cold War Propaganda Chess, like many sports, has been used as a political instrument. Files recently released by the National Archives reveal how the Soviet Union exploited chess for propaganda during the early years of the Cold War (1953–1960). In December 1953,…